Why the Supreme Court isn’t letting abortion drugs be posted on Twitter, but not given to citations: a new evidence-based analysis
Posting about a paper on X seems to boost engagement but not citations. Scientists know where humans first lived outside Africa, and what science says about the Baltimore bridge collapse.
The Supreme Court of the United States were not impressed by arguments from a group of anti-abortion organizations and physicians regarding the use of abortion drugs. The US FDA allowed the drug to be posted after it expanded its usage limit from 7 to 10 weeks of pregnancy. If the court invalidates those actions, access will be restricted nationwide. The scientists say there is no scientific merit to the case because the drug has proved to be safe and effective. A decision will be made in June.
Source: Daily briefing: Tweeting about your paper doesn’t boost citations
The Perseuding Nature of the Persian Plateau: What Do Scientists Tell Us About Ancient Earth? A Case Study of the Francis Scott Key Bridge
After Homo sapiens expanded out of Africa 70,000 years ago, they seem to have paused for some 20,000 years before colonizing Europe and Asia. Researchers think they know where. Looking at ancient and modern DNA, and the environment of the time, scientists have pinpointed the Persian Plateau — which in this definition encompasses Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and parts of Oman — as the perfect place. It’s difficult to confirm this with local archaeological evidence. There is little work being done there because of the geopolitics, according to Michael and his study co-author.
For years now, civil engineers have understood that bridges have a problem: many of them are not designed to withstand a blow from the kinds of cargo ships that routinely pass through their waters. On Tuesday, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, was destroyed by a large earthquake. It’s the kind of failure engineers have been trying to prevent for decades — and even now, they’re not sure if the available solutions are enough.
In 1997, ecologist Suzanne Simard made the cover of Nature with the discovery of a subterranean network of roots and fungal filaments through which, it was suggested, trees were exchanging resources. Simard’s ideas, further expressed in her hit scientific memoir Finding the Mother Tree, resonated deeply with many. Some ecologists think our fascination with thewood wide web surpasses the evidence that underpins it.
Only four of the ten speakers from low- and middle-income countries were granted visas to attend the panel in Portugal last month. She writes of her experience leaving her feeling demoralized and humiliated. Her visa fees, flights and other costs were not covered in a way that could be forgiven. Visa issues are a blow to efforts to prevent biodiversity loss. “Our participation is not a matter of simply ticking the inclusivity boxes, but a deliberate effort to ensure that the voices of people for whom some of these conservation policies are formulated are heard, and their opinions sought,” writes Owusu-Gyamfi.
The collapse of the Delaware Memorial Bridge: Why small ships are not ready for today’s huge ships? An engineer’s perspective on bridges growing to be bigger and safer
Bubbles can be made more stable by suspending them in the air. It might help reduce the need for a certain type of surfactant when they’re used in industrial processes. Researchers at the International Space Station kept soap stable for 15 minutes using the same method that kept it stable for up to 15 minutes using Ultrasonic waves. The bubbles tended to rotate a few times per second, maybe because of the way the sound waves moved around them. The Nature research highlight is a 3 min read.
Azizinamini expects the National Transportation Safety Board to take a “very hard look” at the regulations in place to see if there are better ways to protect the nation’s bridges. As an engineer, the first thing you learn is that public safety is the number one issue.
The collapse of the Key Bridge will likely lead some cities to reevaluate the safeguards their bridges have in place. Last year, New Castle, Delaware, kicked off a $93 million project to install dolphins surrounding the piers of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. While the city took the initiative to proactively reinforce the bridge, federal agencies could soon force other cities to do the same.
But larger ships also carry their own set of risks. Ever Given ran aground on the canal in 2021, and was trapped for a week. Changes have had to be made to accommodate larger ships. In 2017, the Panama Canal expansion project was completed to “meet the growing demand of maritime trade using larger vessels.” The bridge was raised 64 feet so ships could fit underneath.
Over the past two decades, the average size of cargo ships has grown enormously as shipping companies contend with global demand for goods. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, more than 90 percent of traded goods travel by water, which will triple by mid-century. The reason shipping companies have started opting for larger “mega-ships” is simple: the larger the ship, the more goods it can carry in a single trip from retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart.
A long time before people saw them: How long did they wait until the Key Bridge went up? — Douglas Schmucker, civil engineering engineer, and environmentalist at the University of Utah
According to The New York Times, the Key Bridge had concrete barriers in the river that were intended to slow or distract an out of control vessel. However, they’re situated far from the bridge’s support beams, which means they didn’t offer any real protection in case of a direct impact.
However, Schmucker notes that these new rules typically take a few years before they’re adopted. “It could easily have been into the 2000s before you actually saw a bridge designed for it,” Schmucker says. We use a lengthy process to build major bridges over waterways. They are expensive… and they can be a challenge to integrate with the environment.”
“The 3-span continuous nature means that when the main span’s pier was destroyed by the ship, the two directly affected spans lost one of their primary supports,” Douglas Schmucker, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Utah, tells The Verge. The third span was pulled with the collapse of the middle span because they were all designed to function together.
